Jemele Hill asked ESPN leadership to be moved from “SportsCenter” to “The Undefeated”, the sports journalist admitted.
“I requested this. They were more than happy to support me,” she told Variety. “I was the one who wanted to do something else.”
The move was announced Friday and Hill’s last day with “SportsCenter” will be on Friday, Feb. 2.
Hill has been censured at ESPN for her tweets, including after calling President Donald Trump a “white supremacist” last September. She was suspended for two weeks a month later for violating ESPN’s social media guidelines when she suggested that NFL fans should boycott some of the NFL’s advertisers.
“The function of ‘SportsCenter’ is not necessarily built for anchor commentary. So much of my career at ESPN – almost exclusively at some points – has been in commentary,” she told Variety. “They hired me as a columnist. I’ve been giving my opinion since day one,” she added. The “SportsCenter” gig, she says, “really wasn’t my calling.”
Her new role will involve writing “about the intersection of sports and politics when applicable” as well contributing to other network programs.